2020 is a Gap Year
Everything takes effort.
I’m over it.
I’m at my limit.
I can’t hold anymore.
Can you relate to any of the above? COVID-19 is stretching our resources socially, mentally, and physically. We are in survival maintenance as we wait for outcomes in this pandemic. It’s a struggle when we realize the year is half over. Already? How did that happen? As we take inventory beyond the six-month-mark, some are recognizing and feeling the effects of an abrupt halt in their career. A change in their education. A strain in their relationships. A pivot in parenting. For others, it’s a feeling of dread paired with the thought that nothing will be the same.
We’ve gone from busy to bored. Restless. Resentful. Scared. Stressed. It’s hard to navigate the nagging feeling that we are wasting precious time, missing out, or feeling the delay or setback of what we wanted to accomplish in 2020. Remember how we were so excited for 20/20 vision in 2020? The positive growth? The kicking ass and taking names? The changes we were pursuing while leaving 2019 behind? That feels like ages ago. Many young professionals are feeling the prickly sensation of the unknown. How will we describe 2020 when it’s over? What will we have learned?
In an effort to make the waiting game more tolerable, I’ve begun to frame it for myself and clients as 2020 being a gap year. Traditionally, a gap year describes time we take off from higher education obligations to travel and engage in self-discovery. Usually between high school and college if we are fortunate. A time to get our priorities straight and solidify our plans while discovering our interests, hopes, and dreams. A defining, memorable moment in time for personal growth.
Why can’t 2020 represent a gap year? You’re right, we aren’t traveling and making memories in exotic places. We aren’t traveling the world and meeting new people. However, we are engaging in personal growth and resiliency from new, unexpected experiences. We are in fact growing in the face of constant change. We will have memories of this time that we can look back on and see how they’ve shaped and defined us.
It’s been inspiring to see people pivoting and adapting to see bright spots amidst the heavy. To slow down. To re-evaluate. To reflect when we didn’t have the time and space for it before. To fully appreciate nature as an accessible escape. To embrace the pleasure of movement and being outside.
Describing our 2020 experience as:
Resiliency
Personal Growth
Values Inventory
Career Changes
Family Functioning
Creativity
Let us refer back to the Hero’s Journey from English class. The fall of a hero, the decline followed by the rock bottom. The transformation into repair and resiliency. It’s an opportunity to reframe our hardship into something transformational. Metamorphosis in the making.
We don’t yet have the resolution of the Hero’s (your) journey. We don’t yet have the end of the story. So ask yourself, what will you accomplish in your gap year? What will the remainder of 2020 mean for you?
